Diana's Daily Diary Entries
by Applet
Summary: Diana never liked Leona, but she did like her idea of a diary. Diana will record some entries and see if it helps her organize her thoughts. Entries may range from a normal day to an unexpected event. Chapters will be updated daily (hopefully), for quite some time (also hopefully). Any intellectual property on Diana and League of Legends belongs to Riot Games
1. Chapter 1

November 1st, Year 1, Institute of War, Champion Dorms

_Dear Diary,_

_I didn't want to write this at first, but my arche-nemesis, Leona, has actually made a suggestion that writing a diary helps with organizing thoughts. For once, I actually wanted to hug Leona, rather than punch her in the face. _

_At first, I thought this was going to be another ridiculous idea, since it sounded very childish. How can a diary entry be useful in battle?! However, the Radiant Dawn insisted with a surprising determination, so I decided to try it. _

_This is my first entry ever, so I don't really know what to expect. I guess I just write down what happened to me throughout the day. Leona told me the best time to write a diary entry is at night, when everything is done, when the mind is relaxed. _

_First, a little bit about myself. Everyone knows of my tragic back story, the one where I was banished from the Solari for following the Moon. Some people say I got crazy from watching the Moon too much, but those people are never around for long. Anyways, my back story is pretty common knowledge, but what they don't know is, aside from fighting on the Fields of Justice, I actually have hobbies! Despite my tattoos and my looks, I actually have an interest in fashion! Not something one would expect from a fanatic of the Moon. I also enjoy reading as a hobby, fishing, and hanging out. Well, I used to enjoy hanging out. I'm not a very popular amongst the champions, most would avoid any eye contact with me._

_And not just with champions, I'm pretty unpopular amongst summoners as well. Compared to the more popular, and I guess, more charming champions such as Ahri, Katarina, Caitlyn, even Leona, what do they have that I don't? I'm strong, I'm focused, and I have a solid skill set. I build like a tank while I hit like an assassin, I work out just to keep my shape. Yet, despite all my efforts, no summoner has picked me in a long time. _

_As for my home, I have nowhere to go. I fight a solo war against an entire civilization, a civilization that used to be my home until they forsaken my beliefs. I still remember my childhood friend, he was a cool guy, nice to girls and polite to the elders, and of course, a potent warrior. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Solari until he was chosen to serve the elders as a Royal Solari Guard. I still remember him because he was present when the Solari had deemed me a heretic, in fact, he was chosen to be the executioner. Whether it was intentional by the elders, it mattered not, he disobeyed orders when the elders commanded him to execute me. It was then that the Moon's power enveloped my body, and I burst forth with lunar power. I know not of what happened to him, but I do pray he is safe. Maybe we could've been more than friends if I didn't pursue my quest for knowledge. _

_I think that's enough for a first entry. Hopefully something good happens tomorrow. Or just something, my life is pretty boring as it is._

~Diana, the Scorn of the Moon


	2. Chapter 2

November 2nd, Year 1, Institute of War, Champion Dorms

_They say patience pays off for those who are willing to wait. Well, whoever 'they' are, 'they' better be right. _

_Uneventful, to say the least. I woke, up, ate breakfast, went to do some cardio and keep my shape, ate lunch, did some target practicing with Shaco and his clones, ate dinner, did some reading at the Institute's library, which has become my second home, and went to sleep. This boring routine has been repeating itself ever since I came to the League.  
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_I still remember my first day at the League, after I registered as a champion. I remember the cheers, the welcome fanfare. I remember being instantly picked as a champion for the Fields of Justice, as soon as I entered the halls of the Institute. I remember my first win, and all the glory and fame. Being presented with many offers to fight for each respective nations, I was overwhelmed at my popularity._

_Now, none of that anymore. It seems they create this spectacle for new-comers only. Everyone seems like a celebrity when they first enter the league, but come their 2nd year or so, it seems like no one cares anymore. Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, there are champions that never fall out of favor, those are the popular ones, the ones that everyone love to hang out with, and the ones that every summoner wants to summon on the field. Those champions get everything they want, summoners even want to buy gifts for them!_

_This brings me back to the time when I was still a teenager in school. I wasn't the prettiest, nor the most popular, but one of the smartest ones. I could think fast, I could memorize, and sometimes, I just knew the answers. There were some popular students, even though those students weren't the best in academics, but they still got everything. Teachers give them free marks just because they ask, I had to earn all my marks with long-hours of studying. It wasn't fair, and because of that, I knew I had to stand out, which is partially the reason I wanted to delve into studying the Moon and its properties. _

_I was rejected. I wanted to stand out, I wanted to become popular, I wanted to be known, and I wanted friends who would talk to me and hang out during lunchtime. Instead, I was branded as an outcast, the teachers didn't talk to me, they didn't offer me any help if I needed them to clarify something. The students moved further away from me, it got to a point that I was sitting alone at the front of the desk, and there was a circle of desk in between me and the next student. I felt like an outcast physically and emotionally. I would put on a brave face at school, because only at home, was I allowed to let my true emotions show. Eventually it got worse and worse, combined with my solitude, I found comfort in the Library rather than the dining halls. I would skip class, because I could no longer bear being secluded, instead I read books to pass the time. That was when I found out about the Lunari, and their traditions. _

_I thought joining the League would change that, and it did, briefly. But after the first year, I became the person I was before, even though I tried hard to change my personality and my character, I still fell back to my old habits. I tried hard to become personable, I tried talking to the champions and summoners alike, and sometimes it feels like I actually made a few friends. But it only takes a few days after to realize that, I don't have friends, I have colleagues; people whom I am friendly with seven days of the week. They say the difference between a friend and a colleague is that the friend will call you up on the weekends to ask you to hang out, do some shopping, or even just walk by the Institute's beautiful gardens, while the colleague will simply say "hi".  
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_Sometimes, I just wish someone could come into my life, save me from this miserable lifestyle, and introduce me to a new way of living. _

~Diana


	3. Chapter 3

November 3rd, Year 1, Institute of War, Summoner's Rift

_Well here's a change._

_I was called up for a match today, to fight for some nation I've never heard about. I would've prefered to go mid lane, but my summoner decided it was better for me to stay in the jungle. Fine by me, I just wanted to participate in any match._

_I was called with along with four other champions; Caitlyn and Thresh in the bottom lane, Azir midlane, and Nidalee top lane. The lack of a tank toplane means that I, being the beefiest champion on the team, will be forced to buy tanky items. Azir is a new one, I've never heard of him, he must have recently joined, maybe I can make an impression on him. The rest are part of the pool of champions that everyone wants to pick from, in other words, champions that I've already tried to make an impression, and failed, so they are just colleagues to me. I wanted to make a new friend, hopefully not another colleague. _

_I don't know how Nidalee and Caitlyn got to be quite popular since they joined the League before I did, and I will still be puzzled as to why Thresh is more popular than me, in my opinion, he is less approachable than I am, especially with his creepy voice and his tattered clothing. Of course, Thresh doesn't seem to care._

_Azir is different, I'm quite curious how he will adapt to this new environment. He seems to hold himself in high standing, similar to that of the elders when I was still part of the Solari. Could he be some ruler of an ancient civilization? His clothing seem to indicate a style long forgotten, a style that an old royal family may have worn. Now that I think about it, this style is reminiscent of how Nasus and his brother Renekton wear their outfits during combat._

_Well back to the match on-hand. It was not a close match, pretty one-sided, and we lost. I insisted that I buy offensive items, but my summoner held me back, and had me build pure tank items. Azir single-handedly won his lane against the enemy mid laner, maybe I should've stayed and helped midlane win harder. If not for Azir, the match would've been over before we had the chance to surrender. My top lane and bottom lane each got beat up pretty badly, so they were useless when the first teamfight happened. After the first teamfight, neither my top lane nor bottom lane wanted to group with the rest of the team, the rest of the team being Azir and I, while the enemy team always traveled in a group. This made us lose positional advantage over the map, and we quickly gave up objectives after objectives due to being outnumbered. Shortly after we lost our second inhibitor at around twenty minutes, we gave up and surrendered._

_After the game, Azir approached me, laid a hand, or claw, on my shoulder, and told me I fought well. Frankly, I was taken back a bit, this was the first time in a year that a champion approached me. Maybe Azir was looking to make an impression on me, just as I wanted to make an impression on him? Not knowing how to respond exactly, as I was still thinking about the match loss, I replied that he fought well. Azir nodded, and left, to rejoin Nasus, who was waiting for him by a pillar. I watched as Azir approaches Nasus, casually gives a high-fives, and the two walked off discussing about some desert named Shurima. I kept watching them until they turned around a hallway, and disappeared from my sight. Part of me wanted to follow Azir, and try to make some small talk, even though I knew nothing of Shurima, or whatever they were discussing. _

_I was in a positive mood. I regard this as an extra-ordinary event, not because it was outright special, but because it wasn't something that was part of my daily routine. I feel like I might have found a friend in Azir, and maybe he'll introduce me to Nasus and the other champsions. I was hopeful, and I wanted to talk to Azir again tomorrow. _

~Diana


	4. Chapter 4

November 4th, Year 1, Mount Targon, abandoned Moon Temple

_Azir is quite an interesting champion. He was a lost emperor from an ancient desert state. Until he was betrayed by one of his closest advisors, and he lost his kingdom. _

_I had a good talk with him today, he remembered my name. Although Azir looks imposing, he enjoys conversations. Just another example of how people are different from expectations when you start talking to them._

_Somewhere along our conversation, Azir mentions his home, which made me think of mine. It has been quite some time since I visited Mount Targon, by now I presume the Moon temple I uncovered had been destroyed by the Solari. When Azir asked me to talk about my home, I had been quiet, I didn't want to share the details of how I was exiled and barely escaped. But Azir did have an important point. He said that 'no matter what you think of your home, it is still your home, it is a part of you that you can never let go, instead of running away, why not embrace it.'_

_That got me thinking, I should visit Mount Targon. Afterall, I am a champion of the League, even the Solari can't touch me if they don't want to face the wrath of the Institute. Besides, I'm not going to walk right through the Solari gates, instead, I will visit the home I belong to, the Moon Temples, provided I can still find any. _

_I took the day off, I asked a summoner to teleport me to the base of Mount Targon. I wanted to climb the mountain, I wanted to take in the air around the mountain, I wanted to feel at home again, maybe this will help me focus on reshaping my life. I took a last look at the Institute, knowing I probably won't be back anytime soon. Of course, no one came to send me off, but I didn't mind._

_The climb was much harder than I expected. Physically I was fine, I train everyday to keep my physique so climbing the mountain was no big deal, but it was the air, or lack of air, that was unexpected. I had spent so much time away from Mount Targon I forgot about the air pressure differentials. One of the reasons the people of Mount Targon were excellent warriors was due to our training atmosphere, the warriors were accustomed to using less oxygen at a more efficient pace, allowing us to thrive when we fight on the ground where oxygen is plenty. _

_It took me some time before I reached a familiar path, the same path that took me to the first Moon Temple I discovered years ago. To my astonishment, it was untouched, maybe it gathered a little bit more cobwebs and dust, but everything was as I left it. I remembered the night I left the temple en route to the Solari, wearing my armor, proud that I made a monumental discovery about our people. I had prepared the temple to welcome the elders, as a sign of friendship and comradery. I wanted the elders to accept the lost lifestyle of the Moon while integrating some cultural aspects of the Sun, so I laid everything in order, I rearranged the tables and chairs, I cleaned the altar, I did a lot of work. In the end it didn't pay off, but I was glad that the temple remained untouched. _

_The food, of course, had gone bad, so I had to clean that. I packed some provisions, so I was set to last for at least a week before I had to start hunting and foraging. Being back at home brought some nostalgic thoughts, I remember my first time wielding the Moon Silver blade, I didn't have any ideas how to use my own weapon. I had an urge to start training under the Moon, like I once did some years back, to practice my techniques. The years at the Institute had greatly enhanced my skills and instincts, but did not help in focusing my faith. Although I had stopped praying to the Moon, I still worshiped the Moon as a deity by bringing offerings, mainly prizes from fighting for the League. _

_Azir was right, and _I'm glad to have met him._ There's no point in running away from home, regardless of the past. _

~Diana


	5. Chapter 5

November 5th, Mount Targon, Moon Temple

_During the day, I woke up, washed my face, and set out for a run. I usually apply my tattoos every morning after my exercises, but today, I didn't. I would be surprised to meet anyone on Mount Targon at this time of day, but I didn't want to take any chances. Even though I am under the protection of the Institute, I didn't want to bring attention and possibly cause another heretic-hunt.  
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_Without tattoos, I looked pretty ordinary. Maybe a little built for the average woman, but still pretty ordinary, no one would suspect I was a heretic, I don't think anyone would even recognize me as the champion Diana. I was seriously contemplating on going inside the Solari city, since I was confident no one would recognize me. It would still be a risk, but in the end, I took it. I wanted to visit my home, and home wouldn't be home if I didn't visit the city where I was born. _

_As I walked closer to the gates, I saw there were two guards. A lump formed in my throat, I didn't have my weapons, I might be able to outrun them, but I would cause a commotion, and the Solari would probably organize a hunt and eventually discover the temple I was taking residence. But nothing happened. The guards saw me, gave me a salute, and let me pass. Just like that. They didn't even ask for my identification, they just let me through. After I passed the gate, I sighed in relief, at least they won't be chasing me for now. _

_The city had changed in the years I was absent. First off, there was a second set of gates, with another pair of guards, except those guards seem to be more alert. In between the first and second gate seem to be where the majority of the activities were held. There was an open market, and it appears that today was grocery day. Fresh produce, exotic fruits, and livestock were displayed for sale. I didn't have the local currency, in fact, I had these League-issued coins that identified me as a champion, and apparently I could use those coins anywhere in Valoran. The only problem was that I did not want to be identified as a champion. Oh well, I could probably find a way to make some money if I really wanted to.  
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_There was a fortune teller that beckoned me over. I was curious, and at the time, I didn't think too much of having my identify possible uncovered. The first thing the fortune teller told me was my name and to be careful around these parts. I quickly nodded and thanked her for not revealing my identify. The fortune teller proceeded to take my palm, running her finger over my hand. It tickled, but after a few moment, she told me my fortune. I am going to write it down word for word since it resonated so clearly. "The path which you take will be full of hardship, but fear not, as you will meet someone to help you relieve your burdens. You carry the weight of a civilization, and although it is a thankless task, it is necessary for the Solari. You will have bright moments, and you will have dark moments, but never forget that brightness exist only in the presence of darkness, and darkness only exists in the presence of brightness."_

_Most of it I didn't understand, since it was so ambiguous, but meeting someone was definitely something I was looking forward to. I wanted to pay the fortune teller with my coins, but she declined, saying that it is better for me to keep them for the future. I bid her goodbye, and continued onwards. For the remainder of the day, I walked through the open market, enjoying the various smell coming from different shops. There were some familiar smells, and some strange ones. It truly was unfortunate that I didn't ask the Institute to give me Mount Targon currency.  
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_I was in an exceptional mood, I wanted to get to training as soon as the moon comes out. The trip back into the city revitalized my spirit, and I felt pumped to do some practicing. Afterall, I am a warrior, and I warrior's job is to practice to fight. _

_The Moon was bright tonight, and it was a full moon as well. I could feel more and more energetic as the night passed on. I started by slowly weaving my Moon Silver blade through the air, letting the blade move as if it was alive. It's been a while since I was able to train under these conditions, a full moon on a quiet evening, breathing the mountain air.  
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_I plan to make another trip to the city tomorrow, and visit other locations that are important to me._

~Diana


	6. Chapter 6

November 6th, Mount Targon, Moon Temple

_Being stuck at home with not much to do can get boring after a while, so instead, I took a hike and wandered on the mountain, not really knowing where I was going. But sometimes, its best to not wander too far from home, lest you get a nasty surprise.  
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_Originally, I wanted to take another trip to the city, but I was reminded of my fortune from yesterday. I was tasked with carrying the burden of a lost civilization. Just thinking about how I was rejected by the Solari and forced to live as an outcast was enough to make me irritated. I took my Moon Silver blade, wore my battle armor, and set out. I was done with trying to persuade the Solari to listen to reason, it was time I do things for myself. _

_I didn't know why I suddenly awoke into such an awful mood and started thinking like this, but at the time, I guess it was a mix of boredom and being irritated. After walking aimlessly for a few hours, I started on a path on the mountain, one that I previously didn't see. Mount Targon was a big mountain, there are numerous paths that were formed for safe travels, eventually some paths lead to dead ends, but others could guide travelers to safety. I was hoping that one of these paths would lead me to learn more about the Moon and its people. _

_The path took me into a large cave. My heart started racing, I've never been this far before. Could this be another Moon Temple? Hesitantly, I approached the cave. I stopped when I heard noises from inside the cave. It sounded like scrunching. As far as I know, there have never been any civilization apart from the Lunari that lived this far on the mountain. I was excited, I wanted to know more of my culture, so I took out my Moon Silver blade, and cautiously approached the mouth of the cave._

_Bad move. A beast jumped out from the darkness, a piece of cloth in his mouth. But a beast is simply a beast, no match for a champion of the League, although it did scare me a little. I slashed at the beast, injuring its leg, but I decided against killing it, I've done enough killing in the past. _

_The beast whimpered, and dragged its injured leg away from the cave. I watched as it left a red trail, and began to walk away. After the beast disappeared from my view, I entered the cave. What I witnessed was horrible. There was a skeleton, and although the flesh was long gone and some bones were missing, it was easily identifiable as a warrior of the Solari from the clothes it was wearing. The familiar sword that all Solari warriors prefer was laying several feet away from the corpse._

_Worse of all, the skeleton had a necklace clutched in his bony hands. The same necklace I gave to my childhood friend on his birthday, the year before I became an outcast to the Solari. It was a rabbit foot, from a rabbit I hunted with him years ago, I made a necklace for him since he was going to take a trial to become a Royal Solari Guard, and wished him luck. I remember because it was the last thing I saw, the night when I ascended to become the Scorn of the Moon. _

_I was devastated, I felt for sure he survived the carnage that night. But as I sat down, flashes of unfamiliar events began to occur. The night I ascended, I was on a rampage, this vision was clearly different from what I remembered. But in my vision, I had my blade in hand, and I swung hard at anything that moved. Infused with an unnatural strength and ferocity, I damaged stone pillars, left dents on the floor, and slashed at Solari warriors, all in an attempt to reach the elders that condemned me to my fate. I think I slaughtered everyone in that room.  
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_Then, I saw my childhood friend. Up until now, I could not remember his name, and I still can't. Its hard to describe why I forgot someone so important to me. Its harder to describe the emotions that went through me when I saw myself swing my blade, and cut through his armor. But I didn't kill him, as he walked up, and started running away. The place of my execution was perched on a cliff. It was there that I chased my childhood friend outside, to the edge of the cliff. He topped at the edge, turned and looked me in the eyes, mumbled something, then fell backwards. And I didn't do anything, I just watched. It was then my vision went dark._

_To this moment, I still can't recall exact events, just flashes. To this moment, I don't know how to describe my mental state. I camped inside the cave, huddled as far into the cave and away from the corpse as possible. I think the only thing keeping me sane is this journal._

~Diana


	7. Chapter 7

November 9th, Year 1, Institute of War, Champion Dorms

_When I wanted something exciting to happen, I didn't mean this. There's so much, yet not much to write  
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_On the 7th of November, I was woken by a loud rattling noise. It appeared that I was spotted by a passerby, and the passerby recognized my weapon as being related to the Lunari. The passerby ran back and brought with him a bunch of Solari warriors. Good thing I have sharp hearing senses, so I stood up, picked up my weapon, and prepared to fight. _

_The warriors stepped over the skeleton, and cautiously approached me. I wasn't sure if they recognized me, but they took a lot of time to get organized and get into position. I was surrounded, but I wasn't going to give up without a fight. Suddenly, they charged, and I held my weapon up. I was prepared to fight, and kill if necessary. I didn't feel well, but I knew I didn't have anywhere to run. My hatred towards the Solari was starting to flare up.  
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_The cave glowed blue, and the warriors backed off, I was surrounded by a blue light. Talk about timing, this was pretty good from the Institute. Did they know I was in danger? Well, no, the Institute didn't know anything. All they knew was where I was, and they summoned me for a match. Lately, I've been gaining popularity again, at least, I was picked more often in the past week than in the few months before. I took one last look at the skeleton, at the rabbit foot necklace clutched between the bony fingers, before everything went white and I was back at the Institute. _

_The match flew by quickly, I think we won pretty easily. Even so, I didn't have a good sleep that day. I stayed up all night thinking. I didn't know who to direct my emotions. It was the Solari's fault, if only they accepted me. But, in the end, I'm the murderer, I killed my childhood friend, perhaps my only friend at the time. Its not easy trying to forget about all the memories and time spent with someone, now that they are gone. _

_I was summoned again yesterday, for a match. Lately there have been many more champions being summoned, outside of the usual ones. At least this time I was summoned mid lane, as opposed to the jungle. The enemy also summoned Leona, which made my stomach turn, especially given the recent events. By then, I had to focus, I was a champion before anything. My heart raced a little when I saw my mid lane opponent was Azir. And, now that I think about it, I was ashamed of my actions. Here's what happened._

_The match went on normally. I found it especially hard to keep even against Azir, he controls his sand soldiers very well. Everytime I get close, I risk of getting a serious injury. However, I also had my Crescent Strike available, so he didn't always have what he wanted. _

_Then, I can't describe it, maybe I exploded with rage? Azir symbolized the Sun, it was pretty evident. Leona was the direct representative of the Solari. Azir had wanted to recall back to base, so Leona came mid lane to cover for him and protect their turret. That's when I snapped. _

_With a roar, I threw my Crescent Strike at both of them. Leona was surprised, and was caught off guard, she couldn't dodge in time, and was marked with a stack of Moonlight. Azir, worried, stopped his recall and started summoning his soldiers. Without thinking, I used Lunar Rush and dashed towards Leona. I had the intent to kill her, but I really wanted to kill what she represented, to kill whatever ideology the Solari believed in. In my rage, _I forgot to use my skills, I didn't realize that her teammates were coming to help her. I had no map awareness, I didn't know where my team was. I only had one goal, I wanted to see the Sun burn and shrivel._ I took my blade, and stabbed it as hard towards Leona. Neither Leona nor Azir expected such brutality, but I lost control. I yelled, screamed, roared, did whatever I could to sound menacing, as I tried to plunge my blade into Leona. It wasn't easy, Solari armor was well made. Even, so I didn't stop. Until Azir called on his Emperor's Divide. Suddenly a phalanx of soldiers materialized and forcefully pushed me away from the injured Radiant Dawn. I tumbled quite some distance, as Azir helped Leona stand up. _

_The sight of those two infuriated me even more. _Where was the Solari when my childhood friend was injured?_ Where was the Solari when I was stumbling in my life? Where was the Solari when I was getting bullied. Nowhere! I might have had different beliefs, but I was still a member of the Solari, a proud citizen and warrior. Instead, the Solari forsake me, abandoned me when I was at my lowest. Such a society deserves to rot and burn.  
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_At least, I think that's what was going through my head. I wanted to dash again, to rip Leona's throat, so she can no longer spit out anything about the sun. _

_Good thing was, reason finally took over. I would later learn that the summoner controlling me had lost control briefly, something about a magic disconnection, to some magical server, anyways I didn't really understand it. What did learn, was that most champion's emotions are held in check, since most champions perform and make much better decision with a clear mind. When a disconnect happens, the champion can lose their clear mind, and act irrationally, such as walking aimlessly in lane, and taking free shots from the enemy turret. In my case, my connection to my summoner had broken, and the emotions that were bottled up rushed out, and I lost control._

_As I regained my posture, both teams had begun to assemble mid lane. I didn't even realize all the wounds I took during my rage. Leona looked even worse, a chunk of her armor had fallen off, and she was bleeding from the gap. Both Leona and I had to recall. I still remember the look of disappointment from Azir as I recalled, as if he expected more control from me. Long story short, my team eventually won the match, it was a very close match. After, I just went to my dorm. I didn't want to see anyone, I didn't want to write anything. I felt bad, I lost my composure. This isn't how a Lunari warrior should act. Or is it?  
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_Today, I gave it a lot of thought. I recounted everything that happened the past 3 days, but I mainly focused on the match yesterday. I know the Lunari weren't the most peaceful bunch, but its twice that I lost my temper. Even Solari warriors are not that violent. I always praised the Moon for being so calm, and I expected the Lunari warriors to do the same. I know that eventually the Lunari were wiped out, but I never knew the was a full moon. I used to look up to the Moon and find all my answers, but today, I wasn't so sure.  
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_I felt like I needed to go back to Mount Targon and find answers, but I quickly dismissed that thought. I had enough of Mount Targon for now. _

~Diana


	8. Chapter 8

November 12th, Year 1, Institute of War, Training Grounds

_I feel like I need to be more consistent in writing entries._

_Its been 3 days since my last entry, I vaguely remember something about emotions and the Moon. Well the past 3 days were pretty useless. I woke up, ate breakfast, trained, ate lunch, practiced, ate dinner, read books, went to sleep. For 3 days straight. Seems like my adventures ended._

_I wasn't the only one training. The training grounds were filled with other champions, more so than usual. There was a rumor that the Institute found a new Field of Justice, for matches to take place. _

_The summoners around us seemed more relaxed. Apparently there was a ranking of some sort, and it just closed. Everyone above a certain rank got to unlock special content, so congratulations to them, I guess._

_As for me, well lets say that my faith was a little shaken. I inquired about Leona some days ago, and I found out she was doing pretty good. Well, every champion gets healed pretty well after every game, so I guess it wasn't surprising. What surprised me was that I actually took the effort to find out about someone else's well-being. That was a first. It did cheer me up a little once I knew that Leona wasn't doing badly.  
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_Oh, I forgot, there was something that happened yesterday._

_There's a new champion in the process of having her League of Legends application done. The process takes a long time, but its usually confirmed that the candidate will join the League, since not many candidates make it far during the process. Once a candidate is almost done their application, its more or less confirmed that they will join the League soon. _

_A bunch of the champions categorized as AD Carries, were all huddled together. I was curious, so I approached them. They saw me come, and then they gestured to come faster so I don't miss anything. Well that was surprising, I actually felt welcomed to be part of whatever they were discussing._

_Turns out, it was your standard gossip about how the new champion, Kalista was her name, looked ugly. I wasn't particularly interested in how a champion looks, but I stayed in their gossip all the same, just wanting to hear more. It seemed like it was going to be a waste of time, but something kept me from leaving. Maybe it was the thought of wanting to be around people that kept me from leaving, this was the first time I was invited to be part of a group, I wanted to make the most of it._

_Gradually, I became more and more interested. What seemed like a waste of time, actually turned out to be more and more interesting. We weren't only talking about Kalista, we were talking about other things. Miss Fortune was talking about the jewelery Gangplank offered to her, Varus was talking about his time spent in a park with Lulu. Ezreal's adventures were pretty interesting. All the AD Carries had something about their lives that they were proud to share, even if it wasn't something spectacular. _

_That's when I learned something. Because I was on the run for a big part of my life, I had lost the trust needed to even maintain a simple conversation. These AD Carries are going to face each other in a match, anything they say can be used against them, yet they all hold a similar level of trust in each other to share bits of their personal lives. That was something I wasn't able to do, but only because I didn't realize it._

_I felt like I improved a little bit as a person. Of course, not a drastic change, but I feel a little lighter now. _

_As for future journal entries, I will definitely try to be more consistent. _

~Diana


	9. Chapter 9

November 19th, Year 1, Institute of War, Training Grounds

_Just when I promised to do entries at regular intervals._

_The past week was intense, all the champions, along with most of the summoners and staff were extremely busy._

_The Institute told us, last week, that we were moving the Fields of Justice. The old field had become battered up, the magic around the field was dispersing, the fauna was dying. The Institute had spent a good deal of time trying to locate a new emplacement for matches to take place. And last week, they finally found a suitable location._

_The next step was to get the layout of the location available for champions and summoners alike so we don't get lost. Of course, the location was previously a giant forest, and the Institute pretty much cleared a patch, added some rocks, and named it "The Fields of Justice, Summoner's Rift". I do agree that the old Fields of Justice needed a revamp, and I was glad that there was a change in environment. _

_The past week, champions don't have much free time. In order to not disrupt the politics of Valoran, the Institute had every champion training on that Field whenever possible. Since the Institute wanted to gather as much information as possible without disrupting the integrity of the match, example one sided is too OP because it's easier to access dragon without being noticed, or one side's minions pushes faster because they travel less time, thus reach their lane faster and start ganging up on the nearest opposite minion, all this stuff they call "game balance". It took them quite a while since the Institute wanted to make sure the field was perfect. _

_The first step to finding balance was to monitor low importance matches. Unfortunately, this was where I came in. I'm still quite salty at the fact that they call it a low importance match, but what they mean is that the matches are low importance in determining Valoran's politics. This would include many matches where champions are controlled by summoners to fight against magical illusion of other champions. And since those illusions always perform the same actions, the Institute dubbed this kind of match "Coop vs AI" or "bots". My job was to beat up these illusions over and over again, for several days straight. I don't want to go into detail, there really wasn't much to say other than, I woke up, I was summoned, I beat up bots for most of the day, and I went to sleep. _

_What did interest me was the following days after the initial day. As the matches went on, the Institute decided it was time to collect more data, so they moved onto more important matches, such as matches that would determine the victor in minor disputes. These matches were what the Institute called "Normal Games", because they are mostly just for entertainment and to settle minor conflicts. These matches were more competitive, but allowed the Institute to gather more data. _

_Finally, the Institute wanted to do one last test, and they started matches that had major political issues. These matches were called "Ranked Matches", since they largely determined the ranks between the competing summoners from different nations. I got to see tons of summoners who were just too good, far above the rest in terms of skill. _

_But most of my day was spent watching, and beating up bots. I also forgot my diary, which I regret since I probably forgot some interesting events that happened during the past week. _

_Today, the Institute decided that, the new Fields of Justice was worthy for future matches. They told everyone to go back and take a well-needed break while they make final adjustments. _

_I don't know, if I hadn't forgotten my journal, I could've written more, as I'm reading and writing, I'm finding this entry to be quite lackluster. Oh well, I don't expect exciting things to happen everyday._

~Diana


	10. Chapter 10

November 21st, Year 1, Institute of War, Champion dorms

_Today was the first day of snow for the year, not the first time I've seen snow, but it always amazes me to see something so light and fragile, yet paint the most beautiful landscapes._

_The arrival of snow means that arrival of ice, which means people start slipping all over the place. It's always funny, sometimes, to see people flail their arms to try to stable themselves. Of course, there are always snowball fights. Even if most of the staff at the Institute are adults, they still act like they were children and throw snow at each other. I find it distasteful, but people seem to enjoy this kind of activity._

_I saw a summoner who seemed in a hurry, as she ran across the Institute outside. Then, she slipped. I wanted to laugh super loud, because she was running so fast, she basically flew into the air when she slipped. I wish I could describe it better, but I was laughing too hard. _

_It wasn't just me, people were having a laugh all over the place. I didn't think too much at first, but I never actually thought about the people who fell down. Now that I reflect back, it seems like it wasn't the best thing to do._

_It was a very relaxing day, I wasn't summoned for any games. I did however get to talk with several champions who were contemplating on how to jungle effectively. It seems that most champions would kill either the two golems, then do their red buff, or they would kill Gromp, then proceed to do blue buff. It seems the easiest way to reach level 2. _

_I payed close attention to all these details, since I knew that it wouldn't be long until I was summoned to jungle, since not many seem to let me mid. I listened to the stories, many seem to think that the crabs wandering in the rivers are pretty useless since it takes too long to kill them. However, when they die, they do spawn a ward that is very useful for dragon control. _

_The summoner spell has also been changed, it now depends on items. This was a very big change for me, since I was always used to having smite do one thing. It appears that smite can now be used on champions. I was already starting to think what items I should build. _

_This gave me a thought. I wanted to get some practice. I always wanted a sparing partner, and I thought it was time to start looking for one. I thought of all the champions that may want to practice with me, but the only one who came up was Azir. _

_Azir was really the only champion I felt comfortable talking to, but its been a while since we even saw each other. I felt kind of awkward to approach him, especially after my behavior that game, which seemed like ages ago. I don't know, its hard to describe this feeling. I don't want to see him because I feel like he will just ignore me, but I do want to talk to him. _

_I don't know what I'm writing at this point. Too many jumbled events, even though today was relaxing. I don't really know what I'm thinking, maybe I'm just tired from that whole week of training and adaptation to the new Field of Justice._

~Diana


	11. Chapter 11

November 22nd, Year 1, Institute of War, Common Room

_The Institute bought over a bunch of new summoners today, its part of a new system of training summoners. These are summoners who have never summoned anything, who don't have any practice with magic, who don't have any experience. These summoners have only read books._

_Anyways, the champions had to assemble in a line, so the new summoners could gaze in awe. And of course, the shiniest champions get the most glory because they look the most powerful, fine by me, I didn't shine that much in the light, but I didn't really care._

_After that, the new summoners were led away to explore the other parts of the Institute, but they were led back to the common room. This time, it was a sort of "meet-and-greet" your favorite champion kind of event. So, just like any popular contest, many champions were left out. Everyone's heard of Lee Sin; the most versatile jungler during his stay at the Institute, Caitlyn; who never seems to fall out of meta for some reason, Gnar; the newly acclaimed 'best toplaner' in the League, and so on and so on. Other champions were known for their exploits, like Ezreal's adventures, Nasus' wide field of knowledge, Singed's breaking discoveries in AP chemistry (haha), and so on and so on. Those champions were crowded with new and eager summoners asking questions._

_I wasn't part of that group. Afterall, not every champion joins the League to become famous and attract attention, many joined for their own dark purposes. I, myself, originally joined to oppose all who denied the Moon's power and glory, but lately, I feel like I'm starting to change, that my faith is wavering. I should really take some time off, and organize my thoughts, so I sat down, and started to think, while looking at the clock._

_I don't know how long I was distracted, but I came back to reality with a young summoner standing in front of me. He was just looking at me. Just, staring. At first, I thought he was staring behind me, so I quickly turned my head to see, and smacked my face against the wall behind me. Not hard, but enough to leave a red mark on my nose._

_I didn't think there was a summoner interested in me, afterall, I didn't make any exploits, and I haven't been picked in competitive play in forever. Well, I wasn't going to waste this young summoner's time, if he was interested in me, I might answer his questions at the very least.  
><em>

_Interesting fellow I would say. Since he was the only one who came to see me, we spent quite some time just talking, well it was mostly him talking. He wanted to know why no one picked me, after reading about my strengths and weaknesses. He wanted to know my skillset, how my skills interact, and how he can maximize the amount of damage, and what items he should build for me. He wanted to know about my personality, my character, and how I act on the Fields of Justice, because he read up everything about me and there were some parts he wanted clarification. Weird, I didn't know people would write about me, but I guess its only natural since I was a champion and the League needed to document my abilities. _

_We talked for quite some time, and no one else came to bother us. He seemed quite excited to become a new summoner, apparently he was top of his class in terms of knowledge and theories, but he never used magic and he was worried that all his years of study will become useless since magic is more about talent than hard work. I told him magic is both, it just requires more talent than other fields of study, but that hard work was still important for improvement and mastery of magic. I told him that, in this world, to become a summoner, one must work hard, but a summoner is someone who is talented and hardworking. It probably didn't sound like that when I first said it, but I hope that he understood my intentions; in no way I wanted to reassure him that magic was easy, but I wanted to push him forward, to tell him that a path to becoming a summoner was not easy, and hard work alone isn't enough. He seemed lost, but nodded at everything I said. I guess he sort of looks up to me as a champion and mentor, in a way._

_Towards the end of the day, he said that one day, once he's good enough to become an official League summoner, he would summon me to the Fields to be his champion. I told him that its good to have ambitions, and I wished him good luck on his journey to becoming a full-fledged summoner. After he left, I had a feeling of excitement and giddiness, the same feeling one would get after meeting someone, knowing that the person would appear again sometime soon. I only realized afterwards that I never asked for his name. _

~Diana


	12. Chapter 12

November 23rd, Year 1, Institute of War, Institute Grand Library Main Floor

_Things took a turn for the worst._

_No, not for me. Things rarely happen to me, sad to say. But here's what happened._

_I went to the library to read some books. Not books about the Lunari, because even the League didn't have too much information on them, I am interested in a wide variety of subjects. Today I was feeling in the mood to read about the recent inventions and technological breakthroughs. Who knows, maybe one day I could use these technologies to my advantage._

_The library is usually a quiet place, but for some reason, it was especially loud today. It wasn't long until I found the source of the noise, there was a crowd around a handsome man wielding an oversized hammer, as if the size of the hammer was compensating for something, there really was no need for a hammer that big. Well, it didn't take long for me to recognize who it was; Jayce the Defender of Tomorrow. Also, the author of the book I was currently holding. _

_Jayce was a hotshot inventor, and one of the best midlaners at the moment. One could say the only things I admired about Jayce was his inventions and the fact that he's always picked for midlane. I didn't despise him, but I'm not the sort who would run up and say hi. Jayce always smile, but I always thought that he's just faking it so people would admire his optimism. It always seemed like he was wearing a mask wherever he went. _

_Jayce was popular off the rift as well. He seems to be radiating a bright aura that brings all the ladies to him. While I do think he is an extraordinaire inventor, I also think people exaggerate his breakthroughs. Especially his looks, which seem to have people flocking over him._

_Well I wasn't the only one who didn't think highly of Jayce. I heard a sound of gears turning and metallic grinding besides me, I turned to see Viktor the Machine Herald, looking very displeased, or as displeased an expression his mask can make. I couldn't see his face, but I could feel the jealousy radiating off of Viktor the same way I see Jayce radiating light. _

_Viktor stormed towards Jayce. When the ladies saw Viktor, they all scattered away. There was a tense moment when the two champions stared at each other for some time. Then they both turned towards me. I was so surprised I almost dropped my book, why was I being involved? So I quickly turned around, and started walking away. That was when Vikor called me and asked for a favor.  
><em>

_Duels outside the Fields of Justice were forbidden, since champions wield enough power to cause massive amounts of destruction. Viktor noticed that I was interested in technology, and wanted a standoff between Jayce and himself, with a bunch of champions including myself, to judge who had the best invention. Not exactly the typical fight-to-the-death standoff I was thinking, but both these champions were academic men who would much rather settle matters with brains rather than brawn. To raise the stakes, Jayce proposed that whoever loses must wear the other champion's outfit for the next match. In my opinion, that's not raising the stakes, but I didn't understand too much when it comes to academic disputes. _

_In other words, I was being invited, along with others, to partake in a technology contest between two brilliant inventors, not a bad day I would say._

~Diana


	13. Chapter 13

November 26th, Year 1, Institute of War, Champion Dorms

_Soo many games these past 3 days, I feel so happy being picked so often!_

_The day after my last entry, I was supposed to be a judge for this technology contest between Jayce and Viktor, well, I never got to it, because I was picked for a match that day. And I thought it was just a one-off thing, but I was picked multiple times that day. I don't know why I'm suddenly gaining popularity, maybe it has to do with this "free-week" thing, which I have no idea what that means._

_Out of the 20 or so matches I was picked, I was midlane most of the time, but my most memorable match of those days will always be my first time jungling since the changes to Summoner's Rift. Here's what I can remember._

_I was summoned to the Rift the day I was suppose to act as judge, but I was excited, just like the start of every match. I had Rumble top, Graves and Nami bot, and Azir midlane as teammates, with me in the jungle, all on blue side. The enemy team had Xerath midlane, Gnar top, Twitch and Janna bot, and Udyr in jungle.  
><em>

_As soon as Azir spawned, I wanted to walk up, and apologize for my behavior that day, which seems like an eternity now because I never had the chance, but Azir waved me off. He told me whatever I have to say can wait till the end of the match, after all I am a champion before anything. Well, he was right, telling him now and telling him after the match wasn't going to make a difference, so I turned and looked at the shop instead. To my bewilderment, the price for Hunter's Machete increased! Although I am a great jungler, even I need health potions to sustain in the jungle, and the increase in the price of Hunter's Machete means I won't be able to do my red buff and gank, which will severely delay my progress._

_Azir must have seen me being frantic, so he put his hand/claw on my shoulder, and told me to buy the Machete, because it was still the best starter item for junglers, and fight this monster called Gromp, which is a mushroom-frog. He also said I should smite the monster, and he will help me with my first clear. Rumble said he will come help as well, since missing the first minion isn't that big of a deal for him, probably because his flame-spitter will burn the minions too quickly anyways. I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was worried that I won't know where to go after Gromp. Azir sensed that I was still worried, so he reassured me that he will walk me through the new jungle, since he's already seen many junglers prior to this game. _

_So, I did what I was told. I smited Gromp, and killed it, which was a lot easier than I thought. Rumble ran to top lane, while Azir actually stayed and helped with my blue buff. I was very thankful that midlane actually sacrificed his time to help me out. Azir told me to clear the wolves, and recall, upgrade my machete into something more useful, get some health potions, and clear as if nothing was changed, so I did just that._

_When I reached the Razorbeak camp, I found that clearing the camp was indeed much easier than clearing the wolf camp. Smiting red buff also gave me some stamina back. The krug camp didn't really have anything impressive._

_Not before long, I felt ready enough to gank. I was ready to throw my Crescent Strike, throw up my Pale Cascade for some durability, Lunar Rush to my opponent, Moonfall to drag my opponent back, and start wacking him with my Moon Silver Blade. I was ready, and the first lane I was going to gank is midlane. Azir was having some trouble dealing with Xerath's long range poke. Just as I entered the midlane bottom-side bush, Xerath started recalling. He must have had a ward. I didn't leave the bush until Xerath completed his recall and left lane. _

_Rumble had warned everyone that Udyr was seen topside, and Udyr quickly left after realizing Rumble had a ward in the top-tribush. Twitch and Janna retreated after Graves and Nami dealt a serious injury to Twitch, so I assumed that the enemy botlane recalled to heal. Xerath had just recalled and was probably buying items. I was safe, All I was going to do was put a deep ward near the enemy blue buff, maybe clear the Gromp, then get out.  
><em>

_Or so I thought. _

_Gromp was gone, but wolves were still there. I dropped my ward and started on the wolf camp, when suddenly, I hear shattered glass. Next thing I know, I was enveloped by a thick green smog, and only an instant later, I felt something pierce my arm. I suddenly felt sluggish, as if time around my limbs slowed. I turned to see the Plague Rat, Twitch, with his crossbow, ready to fire another projectile. It was then I realized, Twitch had lifestole and killed his jungle side's Gromp, he probably had a ward at river and saw me go into his jungle. At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal. Twitch had sustained an injury, and even with his poison affecting me, I was still healthy, and ready to fight. I was also an assassin built like a tank, while Twitch was fragile and had no escapes. I was a warrior of the Lunari, there was no way I could lose to a sewer pest. I raised my weapon, and Lunar Rushed towards the Plague Rat.  
><em>

_Big mistake. I should've known that supports are always close to their ADC. My blow was knocked aside by an almost invisible barrier. Twitch flinched, and he ran away from me. Well, that was it, I probably could have been able to beat Twitch one on one, but I wasn't guaranteed to win a fight against two champions. I turned and ran the opposite direction. I didn't get far, when my legs started to move slower, Janna had caught up with her Zephyr passive, and threw a wind elemental at my legs, slowing my movement. She had her summoner use the summoner spell Flash to get ahead me, only to use her ultimate skill, Monsoon, to push me back and away from the jungle exit. I was ready to Lunar Rush, I would dash towards Janna, and run past her. I dashed, only to be knocked up by a well-placed Tornado. My summoner panicked and used Flash towards the direction of the jungle exit. All this time, Twitch was hitting me with his poison darts. Seeing that I was about to escape, Janna's summoner used the spell Exhaust to slow me. _

_To make matters worse, 3 blue blasts of arcane energy dropped from the sky, one after the other. Xerath was in his artillery form, casting his Rite of the Arcane to try and snipe me from his base. I was only able to dodge two of the energy blasts, the third hit my back as I was trying to run. I heard the familiar sound of Teleport being cast, both top laners were rushing to the fight. My botlane was also on their way, after dealing severe damage to the enemy tower, but they would not get there in time. I was almost at the exit, I took a lot of damage, but if I could reach the exit, and I can still escape. All my hopes where shattered when I saw Udyr emerge from the fog of war, a man-bear charging towards me. That was it, I severely underestimated my opponents, and I got caught. I saw his bear claws ready to hit, and I closed my eyes, hoping this wouldn't hurt._

_And it didn't, or rather, the blow never connected. I vaguely remember hearing the sound of another summoner Flash being cast. Suddenly, I felt invigorated, my stamina was replenished. I felt a gentle brush of sand flow by me, I looked up and saw the familiar wall of sand soliders, Azir's Emperor's Divide. Udyr was blocked off by the ult, and couldn't reach me. Then I saw a barrage of missiles flying from the sky, Rumble's Equalize landed on Udyr, forcing him to retreat, splitting the enemy team. Janna retreated, leaving another Tornado behind, Twitch's summoner used his Flash, Darius turned, and ran around to rejoin his team. However, Xerath arrived, ready to unleash his abilities. Azir did not have the chance to recall, and even though he just used Heal, he was still not in the state to fight. Bot lane finally arrived, scaring the enemy team into retreating. Bot lane covered for us as we retreated. The enemy team wanted to chase, especially Xerath who was full health with newly finished items. Graves threw his smokescreen to reset the fight, and everyone backed off.  
><em>

_In the end, we won every teamfight, and eventually, we won the match, the Azir-Rumble-Graves-Nami ult combo was too strong. The enemy team didn't have much in terms of area of effect damage. I didn't have to do much, I just needed to stay alive and make sure Udyr and Darius doesn't reach our backline, which wasn't hard since Emperor's Divide created such an obstacle for melee champions. _

_I felt bad at the time. I hardly accomplished anything, I just let my team do all the work, and burn their spells. I could've been more careful, taken less risks. At the end of the match, when everyone was being summoned back to the Institute, I felt the need to talk to Azir. Once I was summoned back, Azir was gone, he's never there, he's always somewhere else. I started getting irritated, I mean, what kind of friend is never there for someone. I see him on the Rift, and just when I can finally say something, he waves me away, telling me to wait till the end of the match. Fair enough, I've waited, gotten beat up, and finally, now that the match is over, he just disappears!_

_I felt disappointment in my performance after that match. Everyone just dispersed after the match, everyone left to do their own thing so I didn't even get to talk to anyone. I saw Twitch and Janna walk off, Janna was giving tips on how to be a better AD Carry to Twitch, it made me jealous. I wished someone told me something I could improve on._

_Wow, this journal entry is really long. I'll definitely need to shorten it next time.  
><em>

~Diana


	14. Chapter 14

November 30th, Year 1, Institute of War, Snack Bar

_I wasn't picked for the entire day, for any matches._

_I was in a foul mood, ever since I woke up, maybe that had to do with my pick rate. You know those days when you wake up, and suddenly everything feels out of place and you're dissatisfied with everything in the world that even the slightest distraction will cause you to put up a fit for no reason? Well, today was one of those days._

_I just woke up to a bright sunny day. Naturally I'm not a big fan of the sun, but today was especially nasty. The sun was shining so bright that I felt irritated just looking at it. I decided the best thing to do was to take one of my books, and throw it towards the sun. I threw the book with such force that the book hit the window, shattered the glass, and flew out of my room. What a shame, it was one of the few personal belongings I had, and I never found my book that day. _

_The shattered glass naturally drew a lot of attention. Some of the staff from the Institute came over, so I barked at them for a new window. Since champions were treated like guests of honor, the staff couldn't help but obey my orders, but I could feel them getting annoyed. So I yelled at them to hurry up, and the staff members disappeared from my view. _

_I waited a good ten minutes before someone returned with a piece of glass, which was supposed to be my new window. Apparently it was her first day working for the Institute, which I will later find out, even though I never found out her name. Not satisfied with the time she took, I waited till she entered my room, gripped the door, and slammed it so hard that the hinges broke off. Scary right? Now that I think about it, I must have been really irritated to do something like that. Anyhow, the door broke, and she dropped the glass, which shattered in my room. _

_That didn't please me at all. I yelled at her, calling her useless, and threatened to file a report for attempted assassination if she didn't clean this mess by the time I came back from breakfast. I also told her to clean my room, but leave everything in place, otherwise a job won't be the only thing she's going to be lacking. She quickly bowed down, and pleaded me to spare her and her job. Well, whatever, I didn't particularly care, I wanted a new window, and I wanted a clean room, and I didn't want to do any of the work. _

_I went to breakfast, ordered my usual combo, and started eating. One of the Noxus champions, Sion the Undead Juggernaut, sat at the end of the table. Not feeling pleased, I stood up, walked to Sion, and told him to get off my table. At first he didn't react, so I took his beverage, and chugged it down in front of him. That got him upset, and he stood up. Sion was a giant, so he easily towered over me, but I going to back down. The situation got so tense that the rest of the Noxus champions actually came and held Sion back, they told him to calm down, that a fight wasn't worth his time. I interpreted as being called worthless, I shouted something about Darius having a big weapon to compensate for something. That got Darius' temper flaring. As soon as he raised his axe, the Demacians champions came, also jumped in, calling Darius a barbarian. I was feeling proud for having allies. Darius was really about to lose his temper. A fight was really about the break out between two factions in the dining hall, with me being the center of attention. _

_Until Vessaria Kolminye, one of the summoners part of the Council of Equity, the highest position at the Institute, came to see the commotion, and told us to stand down. Everyone left to their own table, with Sion switching tables. I felt very proud of what I have done, at least, I felt proud at the time. Now that I look back, it was a very immature thing to do, definitely not something a champion of the League would do. _

_Well I wasn't satisfied. I went back to my room, and having seen that it was thoroughly cleaned, I took my Moon Silver Blade, and took a stroll. I purposely bumped into summoners, especially those who held stacks of documents, and left without an apology. I kept bumping into people, until I bumped into Zyra; the Rise of Thorns. She didn't say anything, and didn't react. That put me on edge, I didn't get a reaction out of her like I wanted, like I have done with everyone else I bumped into. So I turned, and called her some mix between a rose that pricks, which I thought was rather witty at the time. No reaction. That was it, I lost it. I raised my blade a bit, and started fast-walking towards Zyra. People around us could feel the tense atmosphere, many of them shuffled away to give me space. I could see a thorn coiling around one of Zyra's arms, but I didn't care. I had a blade, she was a twig. I was a warrior, she was a plant, I step on numerous plants without batting an eyelid. _

_That was the closest I came to getting into an unnecessary fight that day. Zyra turned, arms out, ready to fling her Grasping Roots. On the other hand, I was feeling the urge to throw up my Pale Cascade. I could feel the bloodlust seeping into me, and I wanted to fight. I was ready, Zyra was ready, it seemed like a battle was inevitable. _

_An old man passed by between us. His frail form distracted me, and both Zyra and I lowered our arms. The old man seemed to pay no attention to the situation around him, he just took his time. I wanted to yell at him, telling him to move faster, but the man turned towards Zyra, gave her a parcel, and told her to deliver the parcel to his son. Then he turned to me, and told me to follow him. That surprised me, and all the bloodlust and the urge to fight was gone. I followed the old man to a snack stand; which was called the "Snack Bar". The man went behind the counter and told me to order a snack. _

_There was no menu, so I told the old man that I don't even know what is being offered. That didn't bother him. He proceeded to ask a series of question, as if attempting to make a conversation. I assumed he was trying to fix me a snack based on my answers, so I proceeded to answer his questions as best as I can.  
><em>

_It was actually quite fun. This old man was quite knowledgeable in history, and he knew about the bad blood between the Lunari and Solari. Although he doesn't have more information that I currently possess, he certainly had an interest in archeology. We gradually shifted our conversation to archeology in general, and he began telling me stories of his younger days, when he was an adventurer searching for treasures. The world seemed a lot simpler back then. _

_I figured we chatted for a long time, because the sun was setting. Not wanting to be the one to end the conversation, I kept trying to think of new things to add. The man proceeded to convey an important lesson; that everything will happen at the rightful moment in time. Just like many morals and lessons, this one seemed self evident, and at the moment, I didn't think of much. The old man reached into his cart, and brought out a package, and told me not to open it until I reached my dorm. Not wanting to spoil this snack, I did exactly what I was told._

_And it hit me. For the past month, I've thought I could control my destiny, but I never thought of just letting go, and let things play out. I've always been focused on getting stronger because being strong was the only thing I knew, it gave me control of my life. But as soon as things were out of hands, I seem to give up, because I can no longer control the situation. This old man was telling me a new way to live, that I should just accept things that are out of my control, and simply let them happen. I should broaden my expectations, because not everything is going to play out the way how I like it._

_I opened the package, and found out it was a chocolate bar. It tasted quite normal, but this was a reminder that even the smallest and most insignificant events, are events that I have no control, and I should just let it happen. Who knows, sometimes good things can happen to those that wait. I realized my foul mood was gone, I was feeling quite chirpy. _

~Diana


	15. Chapter 15

December 1st, Year 1, Institute of War, Common Room

_They really changed it up this year. _

_Last year, the Institute would just bring a bunch of summoners who were deemed ready to receive summoning training, then have them practice in the Institute. Instead, the Institute thought it would be a good idea to bring all the students into the actual building, and have the examination take place in one of the rooms._

_Right now, its examination time, so students are flocking the Institute everyday, getting ready and studying. I guess the education system changed a lot since I was a student myself. In fact, knowledge was only for the select few. Every child on Mount Targon would take these placement tests, and only the top, I forget what percentage, would get the right to have an education. I was amongst those top percentage, which earned me a spot at my school._

_It looks like education is more open for all nowadays, which I think is an improvement. Even so, I see a lot of students take education for granted, which I dislike. From where I came from, people had to fight and compete for an education, whereas here people don't even put effort into memorizing simple facts, which are the basis for knowledge. It always bothered me when I hear students taking their time and gossip about their classmates rather than discussing their test questions. I know I would've rushed home, take out my textbook, and start reading and practicing. _

_From seeing so many students everyday, I can certainly tell education is more popular. I also gleaned their education system, because students tend to talk loud, as if no one else can hear them. From what I hear, there are many different levels in their school, seperated by seniority in the school. There would be the first years, those that just entered the school, the second years all the way until the fourth years. The fourth years take this examination to see if they have the knowledge necessary to start practicing magic, so this exam is very important for them. It turns out the first three years are not as important, the students still take tests, but the tests are just for practice. In other words, the first three years are, overall, just preparing for the fourth year examinations. Apparently there will be more examinations next year too._

_I'm assuming most of these students are fourth years. Its quite alarming to see so many young faces, although I'm not much older. There are many aspiring young summoners, but I heard the process isn't easy. Just like back home, the examination is also a selective, but the process is different. In fact, this examination allows mentors, who are older summoners, to choose younger apprentices based on result. These apprentices study under their mentor, only to take another examination to become a full-fledged summoner, if they pass. These full-fledged summoners can be picked up and individually trained once again, but this time the summoners will be training in a team environment. By that time, most of the summoners probably would have given up, or were burned out, but there are still those who manage to endure this progression to the end. I think this is where the nation-states of Valoran come in and pick up any individuals that they think will make a great addition their team, most of these individuals don't have any affiliation, or do not care for their ties to their home state. These individuals are also handsomely paid for competing in the highest level of League of Legends matches. I find it almost disappointed that some of these summoners would simply do this for the money, while others have a passion to become the best. It almost seems that becoming a summoner is harder than becoming a champion, yet there are more summoners than champions.  
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_Yeah, I heard of all this in the past few days of people coming in. That should be a general indication of how many students pass through the Institute everyday. I have yet to find the exam room, but I would like to see it sometime. _

~Diana


	16. Chapter 16

December 3rd, Year 1, Institute of War, Common room

_Aside from the overflow of students, nothing unusual happened__._

_But there is a story I want to record, a story relayed to me by a wise woman. This woman first came to the Institute to see her grand-son after he finished his examination, but appeared to be loss. I was around, and knowing the Institute a little better, I planned to guide her to the nearest billboard with the floor map. She was having trouble walking, so we took a break, and I sat her down by a bench. Now, this woman couldn't have been that old, but she's definitely seen some crazy things in her life, I can tell from the look in her frightened, but alert, eyes. _

_The first thing I noticed about her, after scrutinizing, was that her clothes don't match. She wore pants that I saw in some fashion stores, pants that cost a lot of money yet don't provide any real difference from pants you would buy at a low-end retail store. Her pants, were stained with mud, interesting how she is able to afford expensive pants but stains them and doesn't notice. The next thing was her sweater, a tattered, burgundy, hand-knit sweater, no crazy designs, kept in much better condition than her pants. Obviously her sweater was precious to her. She wore no necklace or earrings, but kept a ring on her left ring finger, so she was married. Then her shoes, and just like the pants, expensive and mud-stained. Most people are teleported to the Institute since the building itself is located in a remote area, in the case of the students, they are mass teleported by very experienced summoners, while others arrive by other means of transportation. This woman must have walked a long way to see her grand-son, which made me wonder how a person able to afford luxury clothing could not have engaged transportation or simply asked to be teleported by the League summoners. I would later find out why._

_As we took a break, this woman, who never told me her name, offered to tell me a story. I don't get it, why does no one tell me their name? Ah, its probably because I never remember to ask. This is what I can remember._

_The woman's story started when she was a child. She wasn't spoilt, nor was her family poor. They were just average income, and pretty normal. Her family was caring, but they had a deep cultural root to their native homeland. In time, she would find that her views of the world differed greatly from her parent's. As a child, she never really liked studying, and would prefer playing with friends, but that changed quickly when she hit her teenage years, preferring books and solitude. This worried her parents greatly, so they sent her to various extracurriculars; piano lessons, sports team, swimming etc. But she hated them all, she didn't understand why her parents could simply not leave her alone. All she wanted was some time to herself, yet school, extracurriculars, and her parents kept taking that away. Her grades dropped as she put more time into reading comic books and nature books rather than putting time in her homework. Her teachers were concerned with the way how she would regularly skip class, which, in turn, made her parents very displeased. They yelled at her, telling her that books are not important as homework, that they spent a lot of money just so that she could succeed. They emphasized that they came from a harsh lifestyle where education was not as easily obtained as today, that they didn't want her to go through that life. She didn't care, it only fueled her desire to live away from home, somewhere she can have some quiet time, no disturbance._

_During her last year of school, she tried really hard to obtain high grades. The best institutions in the geographical area wanted students with high grades, but they were often very far from her home. Nonetheless, she tried hard, and finally her work paid off. Her parents were proud, and her teachers complimented her, but she didn't care. She was finally legally allowed to live by herself. Her parents helped pack her stuff, since the institution she picked was so far she had to take a very long train ride. But she was happy, because she can finally have her own solitude time. _

_Things didn't go as planned. She was living in a dorm, with other students, and the other students were loud. Somehow, it didn't bother her, but the amount of work that the institution provided was a lot more than from school. She had trouble adapting, and when she received her marks from her first round of tests, she nearly cried. But she wanted to show that she can live alone, so she didn't tell her parents. She kept telling herself that she will fix this situation by studying more, asking more questions, and participating more in class. During this time, her parents called, but the conversations would never be more than ten minutes. She limited herself to only ten minutes of conversation because she didn't her parents to know her grades, nor did she want to talk to them. Afterall, the students' noise was already enough for her to handle, she didn't want to waste more time. Yeah, she considered talking to her parents a waste of time._

_In due time, her grades improved. In due time, her conversations with her parents diminished. In due time, she became more miserable, but somehow stayed a bit happy with the fact that she was alone, no one can bother her, and she was living by herself. She didn't have many friends, more so colleagues, finding friends in big institutions was hard since it felt like everyone wanted to take advantage of friendship for personal motives. It didn't bother her, afterall, she wanted to have some time alone, friends would only bother her. She didn't attend her graduation, she just kept to herself, told her parents that she was planning to move into a new apartment near the school, but didn't leave an address. Her parents, probably realizing that their daughter is actually leaving the house, agreed, and asked her if there was anything she needed. She said no, and hung up her phone. _

_Due to her grades in the institution, finding a job was not hard. In fact, her job was very top notch, and payed well. She was hardworking, and her colleagues praised her as she always got her work done in time. Her boss noticed, and she was soon promoted. She didn't care, as long as she can afford living in her apartment. It came to a point where her income was exceeding, by quite a large margin, her monthly rent, and since she had no use for the money, she decided to send the extra money back home, to help her parents. During these years, she never called her parents more than once every two or so months. Their conversation was very limited, and often very short. But she was happy, she had a job, she had her apartment, she had people admiring her, and best of all, she finally got some time to herself. After all these years, she's finally happy. _

_Until that day. The week before that day, her mother had sent her a hand-knit, burgundy sweater for Christmas. Well, she didn't need any clothing, she could afford almost anything she wanted with her income. Her parents had planned to visit her, after years and years of talking. So she gave them an address, and told them to come during the weekend when she was not busy with work. That day, it was very late at night, and she still didn't hear of her parents. As time passed, she became increasingly worried. Finally, she couldn't take it, so she reached for her phone. Well, it rang before she could reach it, she picked up anyways. It was one of her colleagues, asking her from the institution, who was working as a emergency paramedic. Her colleague asked her to come identify someone. Her hearth lurched, she had a bad feeling about this. She rushed to the scene, where her colleague was standing over a wreckage of a train. Apparently, someone had too much alcohol, stumbled into the engine room, and decided to have a little fun messing around with the control of the trains, ultimately derailing the train, and causing the train to flip several times down a hill. Most of the passengers were killed, and her colleague asked her to come identify this one couple. There was a torn piece of paper with her address in a clutched, but cold hand.  
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_It was her parents. Her heart was about to give out, she could feel the burst of emotions, she tried to hold them back. It was hard to describe, but for the first time, she truly felt alone, a unfilled hole emerged. Its hard to describe the feeling of losing someone important until you've actually felt it yourself. I should know, I've had a similar feeling. Just like me, she was feeling empty for the next days. She didn't want to do anything. She quit her job, even though her boss agreed to let her take some time off due to emotional stress, she simply didn't want to do anything. There was a lot of things to do, her parents funeral, a lot of paper work concerning ownership of her parents assets, her parents' debts and insurances. All of these she can take care of, but she could never, ever take care of her parents again. She told me she cried so much, her neighbors called the local security just to make sure she wasn't getting abused by someone. _

_Fast forward several years, she got married. It was a happy marriage, but it was awkward because she didn't have any family during her wedding. Instead of the traditional white dress, she wore the hand-knit, burgundy sweater. It was her mother's last gift, and she wanted to treasure it. Her husband and his family were understanding and knew of her situation beforehand. After the wedding, her life turned better and better. Ever since that day, with the exception of work, any event, formal or not, she would wear that sweater. She took good care of it, washing it periodically, and stitching some parts that had tears. Her husband was very good and faithful, but he was understanding and caring. He helped get her life back on track, and helped fill the hole that the absence of her parents left. But she still missed her parents. _

_She had learned an important lesson; to treasure those around you, because you don't know how long they will remain. She looked at me, and in an instant, she knew that I had similarities to her. As an older woman, she felt like it was her responsibility to teach the new generations important lessons, so that we, the younger generations won't have to live through tough situation like hers._

_I almost cried myself, I'll admit it, I was deeply touched. I don't usually cry at the slightest bit of emotion, but this story was deeply almost too much for me to handle. Just to make it clear, almost doesn't mean I actually did. I didn't want to share my story, and the woman knew that, so she didn't pressure me. Soon after she told me her story, her grandson came, and, after saying their goodbyes, they walked off, leaving me alone on the bench. _

_I wanted to record this story, for my sake. I feel like this woman was sent by some higher power to direct me away from a destructive path, and I want to remember her story. I want her story to inspire me to change, because I feel like change is something that I desperately need._

~Diana


	17. Chapter 17

December 8th, Year 1, Institute of War, Mount Targon

_Oh dear. At least I found it.  
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_I can't stop thinking about home. Or, I couldn't at the time. Its been five days since I took another break to visit Mount Targon._

_This time, I just felt like going back home. I didn't really have a purpose, I just missed home. No matter what, Mount Targon is still where I was raised, and although I have no duties attached, its disrespectful to not visit home once in a while._

_I asked to be teleported back to Mount Targon, at the base, and I think thats when I lost my diary. How careless, I don't even know how to lost it. Well, here's to hope I can still remember what happened in the past days. _

_I remember this one clearly. On the day I left for Mount Targon, I packed my armor instead of wearing it. I carefully wrapped my blade so it doesn't look suspicious. I don't know, I felt like I wanted to blend in. I've done it before, afterall, without my tattoos, I look like a well trained member of the Rakkor, so I shouldn't be noticed. Besides, many people have heard of me, but few have actually seen my face. I mean, the Rakkor are interested in the League and its matches, but I don't get picked very often, so they don't really get to see me often. That part gets me sad, the part that I don't get picked often. _

_Anyways, back to the first day. I was walking along the base of Mount Targon, when I see a boy sitting down, clutching one of his knee. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the boy had scrapped his knee, so I took out of medic kit, and treated the wound as best I could. _ Judging from his looks, this boy was hardly seven years old, maybe eight. _The boy thanked me, and asked me if I could do one more favor. Apparently, the boy was a sheep herder, his family was sick, they were poor, so he had to protect the house, the livestock, and every other bit of asset his family owned. His sheeps had run away, his dog was too old to chase, so he had to physically herd the sheeps back to their feedlots. All in all, this boy was in a hard situation, his family are sheep farmers that sell wool, and now they're sick. _

_I put down my bag, and followed the boy. Despite being poor, his family owned a big piece of land. Well, I realized why. The land was pretty much devoid of grass, in fact, there wasn't much green to be seen. Afterall, the environment around the base of Mount Targon is pretty harsh, and it only gets worse at the top. I could see some sheeps grazing at the distance, but I couldn't see the house. It took a good few minute walk before I could finally see a cabin in the distance. The boy suggested that I drop my bags near the cabin, I help him herd the sheeps. So I did just that, I walked up to the house, dropped my bags, sealed the bags with my lock just in case anyone gets funny ideas, picked up a stick, and walked towards the sheep._

_I had done my fair share of sheep herding when I was little, but never this young. And I had a dog to help me too. I know how the dogs do it, apparently they chase stray sheeps in the main sheep group, then the dogs get the sheep to stick together, before finally moving the sheeps in unison towards a location. Well, I don't have a dog this time, so I'm going to have to do some extra work. _

_I asked the boy how many sheeps there were. He replied with ten. Good, not too much work, I could probably herd them individually. The only problem was that I only saw five in total on my way, I was going to have to search. The boy told me to get the ones we saw on our way to the cabin, and he was going to search for the rest, he was making my job easier, what a guy..._

_I didn't want to make his job harder by offering to take the harder job and search for the missing sheeps, so I did what he asked, I rounded the sheep individually, and I herded them towards a feedlot. The lot was, of course, devoid of grass, but I closed the gate, so the sheeps couldn't leave, and waited. _

_I must've waited for hours, before the boy finally came back with two sheeps. He couldn't find the other three sheeps, and it was getting late. He thanked me for helping, and offered me to stay for the night, and meet his parents. I hesitantly accepted, not to be rude, but I don't think there's much they could offer me, and I didn't want to take what little they had. The boy told me to wait outside while he went inside the cabin to speak with his parents. Soon after, the boy beckoned me to come in.  
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_I entered the home, and immediately, I saw the boy's parent on the bed. Apparently, the boy's dad died of some sickness years ago, leaving the family with little to no money, and debts. Only his mom remained, and she was sick. Mercenaries visit this place once every month to collect wool, for no reason other than to get some easy money. And its not like an eight year old could fend off several adults at once. _

_When the mother saw me, she thanked me for my troubles, and tried to stand up. I gently pushed her back down the bed, telling her that I'll stay until these mercenaries come back. I never liked mercenaries, and I despised adults who bully on the weak. I felt righteous enough to make a stand, and I felt confident I could chase the mercenaries for good._

_I heard a knock on the door, so I told the boy and his mother to stay back, while I handled the situation. As I expected; mercenaries, and not the big trained well-built for combat. These guys were the out of shape, slouching, I could tell they make a living off of bullying people. I glanced at their weapons, two of them carried simple swords, one had a crossbow, and the fourth one had some sort of one-hand axe. When these guys saw me, they looked surprised, and they backed off a little. _

_Well, time to shine. This was going to be easy, I didn't even need to take out my weapon for this. Not to brag, but, I disposed of them pretty easily. I'm not going to go into details, ok well, I am. Here's what happened. _

_With lightening fast movements, I grabbed the two nearest mercenary by the collar, and threw them into each other. Both let go of their swords, so I grabbed both swords. I didn't like bullies, and I certainly wasn't going to let these bullies go off easy. I was about to plunge the swords into their owners's, when I glanced back. The boy and his mother were frightened, they had no idea I was that strong. _The other two _mercenaries were equally alarmed, and they took more than a few steps away from me. I decided to cut back a bit, and instead of plunging the swords into the owners, I shoved them on the ground. I made up this lie that from now on, my father owned this property, and that I was going to come back daily to check on the wool production progress, and if I, or anyone else patrolling the area saw mercenaries, we had orders to kill them. _

_That was enough to scare them away. I don't know how long this lie will hold, but I hoped it would be enough time for the mother to recover. _

_And that was basically the first day. I had spent the night with the family, I made them dinner with the rations I had brought, and I went to sleep. _

~Diana


	18. Chapter 18

December 9th, Year 1, Mount Targon

_I had a good sleep that night._

_I woke up, to find the boy and his mother had already prepared breakfast. The mother seemed to look better already, I wonder if its because the worry of mercenaries is over, so she has less stress. Anyhow, the important is that she is getting better._

_They offered me a hat, which was much better than my makeshift headband I use to hide my heretic mark on my forehead. I graciously took the hat, which was pretty comfortable. I gotta say, my headband was often too tight, but I didn't want to take chances. This hat covers my entire forehead, I don't have an oversized forehead mind you, and actually kept my head warm, not to mention this hat is much more fashionable than a rag around my head. _

_Still, I was concerned. Concerned about their living conditions. Fending off mercenaries was one thing, but constantly living in these conditions, that's something entirely different to fix. So I made it my job to make their lives better, at least, as much as possible while I stayed with them. I didn't plan on taking a long vacation, and I certainly won't be changing my schedule. I would have to do the most I can for this family with whatever time I allotted myself. Looks like visiting the Moon temple will have to wait a bit._

_Looks like there's more chores around the cabin than I thought. I'm used to doing chores, I take care of an entire temple by myself. What I didn't expect was how hard it was to take care of others, as well as keeping the place clean. Obviously chopping wood was easy, take an axe, go to a tree, and wack it a few times till it falls. There weren't any trees around, so I had to walk quite a bit of distance. It was only until I left the house that I realized the temperature didn't change. The cabin was as cold inside as it was outside, the family didn't have firewood for a very long time. I didn't even take ten steps until I was worried the mother would get cold, so I rushed back inside to check. She was fine, probably used to the cold by now. I'm only beginning to understand the hardships that this family is going through. I certainly lived a hard life, but this was something entirely different._

_If cutting wood was my only job, I would've finished a long time ago. But it wasn't, there was a lot more. Wool was important, but so was keeping the sheeps healthy. Unfortunately, the sheeps hadn't grown enough wool to be shaven just yet. The wool was their only source of income, so they had to raise their sheeps as best as they can. I've raised sheep before, so I tried to help, teaching the boy a few tips on how to crossbreed sheeps and pick the breed that produces the most wool. It was all elementary sheep raising that I learnt sometime back. I don't think a boy that's eight years old would understand crossbreeding, but I tried my best to explain it. _

_Then it was hunting. Easier said than done, when there's nothing to hunt within miles. I don't know how long I walked, until I saw a mountain goat. And it was fast! As a champion, I have super stamina, but even I had a hard time keeping up with it. I ran for over an hour until I finally found a moment to ambush the goat, and deal the killing blow. Then I had to drag the goat back to the house. And it was already mid-day! I did three things, and I wasted half a day already!_

_I offered to make lunch. They gladly accepted, and I made the only dish I remember. It wasn't my best performance, and I certainly could have improved, but they seemed to enjoy it. I did some other stuff in the afternoon, including hunting for more food and picking out herbs, then making dinner. All this in the first day I spent with the family._

_I spent quite some more time doing the same thing pretty much. It was awkward at first, but I think I gradually got used to it. The boy didn't seem to mind, in a way, I was more of a motherly figure to him than his own mother, who was still sick. I certainly didn't want to appear that way, but after a while, even I began to see this boy as more than just a stranger. I would get happy when he finished eating my cooking, get upset when he would do something stupid like run around with only his trousers, and I would feel relaxed once the boy fell asleep. I guess this must be the feeling of being a parent. _

_Forward a few days, and I still couldn't think of a way to improve their life. What I did improve, was the mother's condition. In just a short period, she was now able to walk, make food, herd the sheep, basically she recovered. I took that as my cue to leave, I couldn't stay forever, and it was about time I returned to the Institute. I wanted to have one last look at the Moon temple before I left Mount Targon, so I said my goodbyes to the mother while the boy was asleep. I left the middle of the night, and I retraced my steps, back to where I started. It was somewhere then that I found my diary, and later I found the hole in my bag, looks like my bag is already worn out. _

_I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but being a parent doesn't actually seem that bad._

~Diana


	19. Chapter 19

December 11th, Year 1, Institute of War, Training Grounds

_The past few days were boring, no matches, no events, I didn't decide to go anywhere, it was really a mundane two days since my last entry._

_I was pretty bored, but I kept up with my routine of training, reading, and just walking around the Institute when I have too much free time. The League has reserved a special area similar to Summoner's Rift dedicated for champions who wish to get better at navigating the map, or just getting a better feel for their battle ground._

_A new champion was added by the name of Rek'Sai or something, and as usual, everyone was excited. A bunch of champion wanted to play against her, and of course, there was a huge discussion about how overpowered this champion was and a general complain by a bunch of summoners. I honestly don't see what's so exciting about an over-sized bug with a non-damage ultimate. _

_What was exciting, well more exciting than seeing Rek'Sai, was to see the person standing next to me, who could not contain his excitement, shifting from one foot, or talon, to the other. Azir was shifting impatiently, and I can understand why he's acting a little anxious. Rek'Sai was a beast champion from Shurima, but Azir doesn't seem to recall any beasts such as the xer'sai during his time of rule. For a wise emperor, I would've thought Azir would be the first to welcome, or despise, Rek'Sai, instead, Azir was very intrigued and excited to see her._

_Just as I was about to say something, blue lights surrounded Azir, and he was teleported away for a match. Whatever, I didn't have anything to say anyways. _

_Until he came back, around half and hour later. Naturally, I asked him about the match, to which he replied it was a simple yet solid victory for his team. I asked him what he thought about the new champion, and he replied that he was indeed curious, and he was eager to face Rek'Sai in battle. I was having trouble trying to get this conversation to continue, I didn't know what else to say._

_I found it was very hard to keep a conversation, and it was then I realized that I don't know anything about practically anyone in the Institute. Sure, I've read up on the background of most champions, but aside from that, I don't know anything else. And because of this, there wasn't any way for me to continue a conversation. _

_I want to make it a goal for me to learn more about other champions. _

~Diana


	20. Chapter 20

December 20th, Year 1, Institute of War, Institute Grand Library Main Floor

_It's been 9 days since my last entry. I hope it won't be another 9 days before my next entry. _

_Here's the time of the year again. Lights, lights, and lights. Lights everywhere. You'd think that it was daytime even when the sky got dark. Not you, me, well, you are me, who am I even writing this to?_

_My only annoyance is that the Institute keeps the lights on all day, so that it's hard to find the moon at night. _

_The League also has a bunch of new guests. Well, aside from all the students that are done their examinations at the League, there are these little white fur balls with horns and a huge tongue that run around in the hallways. Apparently these fur balls are for some sort of game mode or something, so I hope I get to experience this game mode sometime soon._

_Aside from that, there's not much for me. The summoners are getting busy trying to prepare for a new year. The League found a new field, and they are also rolling out new items for champions to buy. Good, diversity breeds tactics. _

_I don't even know what to write, there's so much yet so little, and I feel too lazy to write and too eager enough to write a book, both at the same time. I don't even know what I'm writing about at this point. _

_I spent most of the 9 days in the library. No matter how much I read, there's always something new. Its like the library is constantly being updated with information, too fast for me to grasp it all. _

_At least I'm not the only bookworm. I see Ezreal a lot, but he has his reasons, he's actually one of the main contributors to the library, since all he does is go off on adventures and records his discoveries. I see Nasus, but he was previously a librarian of some sort, so he would feel comfortable surrounded by books. A bunch of other champions come and go, most don't stay for very long._

_Yeah, I don't know. Life is pretty boring right now. Not much to do. _

_Everyone seems to be excited for Christmas, and there's bound to be something interesting right? Its Christmas, of course there's going to be something interesting. I wonder what the Institute is going to do this year.  
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~Diana


	21. Chapter 21

December 24th, Year 1, Institute of War, East Communication Tower

_The eve before the holidays. The Institute was pretty empty, champions and summoners alike are taking some time to go celebrate elsewhere. This is basically a break for everyone._

_Well, not everyone is gone. I'm still here, and so were numerous other champions who don't really have anywhere to go. I imagine its pretty complicated to open a portal to the void since all the void champions are still here. Maybe they're just waiting to leave at a later date. _

_The halls were empty, save for the few summoners rushing down the halls to finish their last bit of work before finaly taking their long deserved break. The rooms were empty, the desks and chairs were neatly arranged, and all the equipment had been stored away so that nothing valuable was in sight. Most of the rooms were cleaned, mopped, and swept, looks more like people are moving out than taking a short break, but I imagine people would want to keep their workplace clean for the holidays so it stays clean when they come back for a new year._

_I basically wandered around the Institute, with no real objective in mind. I figured since I don't spend nearly enough time actually getting to know the buildings of the Institute, I might as well take the time and explore a bit while I'm not bothered. I don't stray far from my dorm, and I only go to the common places that all champions go, I never really had a curiosity to explore the Institute.  
><em>

_At least the halls were quiet. This gave me some time to think to myself. What was I thinking? I don't know, sometimes I pretend I'm thinking just to waste time, I don't know why. Usually, matters of low importance pop up. There aren't any major events happening, and I don't really have a place to go, or a date I'm looking forward to (see that pun :D), so there's not a lot on my mind. _

_Before I knew it, the sky had gone dark, it was almost evening. I had wandered aimlessly for hours, without having done anything. I turned a corner, thinking that I would start heading to my dorm if there was nothing more to see, when a half-open door caught my attention. There was a faint light coming from behind the door. Normally the Institute staff would put away all important equipment, so I was a little surprised to see that an equipment capable of emitting light was left out. It might have been a junior staff member, too eager to go on his vacation, and in a rush, forgot to store some piece of equipment. I figured I might as well put the equipment away, or at least turn the light off. _

_I opened the door to find myself not alone in the room. A room might be too small to describe what I saw, it was more of an open space, enclosed by walls. In the center was a gigantic crystal emitting the light. The whole place was illuminated, but it wasn't too bright. The walls were actually shelves, and contained a bunch of books and documents. Curious, I walked closer to the crystal. I looked up to see the tip of the crystal, and saw that the ceiling was quite high, not that the crystal was as tall as the ceiling. It appears I'm in some tower._

_A man shuffled closer. He seemed a little astonished that there was someone still there, but then he realized who I am. I eyed him for a brief second. Plain summoner clothing, a beard, cracked skin on his hands, it appears this man has been doing physical work for quite some time. Seems quite a bit older than me.  
><em>

_Naturally he asked me what I was doing, so I told him I was planning to leave if I was bothering him. To my surprise, he told me to stay around for a bit, while he told me his story._

_This man had worked in this tower for several years, he was actually one of the dozens of workers responsible for monitoring this crystal, which was some form of communication crystal that allows summoners to maintain their link with their champions during a match. If the crystal starts to crack, well that could very well mean that every summoner will have their link cut from their champion, which is where he comes in. This man has the responsibility to maintain the crystal's condition so that League matches proceed smoothly, and he does that through some magic that he didn't explain very well. However, it's often a boring task since the crystal was made to last a long time, and it is very solid, so there is usually nothing to do. Unfortunately, today was especially boring because all his colleagues had gone since it was a holiday, and he was the one chosen to work the entire night. It's a boring job, but I realize it was very important, and all the summoners relied on this man to keep the crystal intact. _

_He wanted me to stay around so he could at least have someone to talk to for the time being, at least he could relieve his boredom for now. I asked him why he was chosen, and he told me that he actually volunteered. ___The Institute has been his home, and before the Institute, the man had simply wandered around trying to find a job or anything that interested him. He would work at some place, quit, and work somewhere else, until he found the Institute. _This man has no family, and just like me, he doesn't really have anywhere to go. He volunteered because he knew that his colleagues wanted to get home as soon as possible, and he wanted to save them the work and burden of staying behind and maintaining the crystal. His colleagues trust him with the work, and his boss was grateful that someone stepped up to take the responsibility for this boring job. I thought it was very honorable of him to sacrifice his time so that everyone else can have a worry-free holiday. _

_I didn't want to cut him off, so I patiently listened to this man's story. He talked about his academic life, saying that he should've spent more time with his friends rather than study to get better grades. He told me of some weird but wonderful experiences that he treasures, but even after hearing all that, I could find that the man was quite alone. He seemed to surround himself with all these stories and pride himself in his abilities, but never in his stories did he mention that he did anything with anyone other than himself. He relied on himself all through this time, and managed to find work at the Institute, and he was quite proud, but lonely. _

_As I was about to leave, he thanked me for listening to what he calls "an old man's rambling". I told him that I enjoyed listening to his story, and he waved me off. I'd just like to mention that usually summoner's treat champions with utmost respect, almost as if we were gods, but this man was quite relax with his manner of speech, and that made me more comfortable than the usual interaction with summoners. I want to be treated as an equal, I want to be treated normally, and I was happy that this man was able to refer to me in a friendly manner. _

~Diana


	22. Chapter 22

January 1 , Year 2, somewhere in Valoran

_Finally had some time to catch a break._

_I thought this year was going to be the same as last year's celebration on Christmas and New Years. It technically was, for those that stayed in the Institute, there were parties, gatherings, and many people of high stature came to visit the Institute and inspect the battle grounds. And I was just gonna sit in my room, go to sleep early, and let it all pass, just like the previous years. When everyone is celebrating, I don't even have the urge to go training. But here's what happened anyways.  
><em>

_On the day of Christmas, everyone was running around, getting the last preparations for an event. Everyone seemed so busy._

_I walked into the main hall and casually looked at a billboard, and I saw this advertisement. It was actually more of a request. _

_Due to the Rune Wars, the land of Valoran was badly damaged. Lately, there have been tectonic activities in major urban areas, and the locals there needed help to evacuate the civilians. I'm actually surprised that not more people were here reading, but I decided to join the volunteer force tasked with helping these people out. The request was from a city I've never heard of, so I asked the nearest summoner to teleport me there._

_Upon arrival, I can see why the city needed help. Buildings were crumbling, everything looked damaged or destroyed, it seemed like multiple earthquakes hit this area. I looked up and saw a camp, which was where the survivors and the relief force was located. I made my way up, and introduced myself. I took a quick look at the surroundings, and saw that this camp was crudely made. No major equipment other than shovels had been provided. It seemed like the earthquakes only hit recently, and there wasn't enough time to organize a better relief force, so people had to make the best of what they had.  
><em>

_The people were quite glad that a champion had joined their cause, but apparently I was not the first. The Piltover champion Heimerdinger has already arrived and began designing plans and consulting with architects about how to remove debris. I was glad that I wasn't the only champion who wanted to help.  
><em>

_I was tasked as the leader of a search and rescue team. Our job was to scout the ruined city and help anyone that are still trapped within the ruins of buildings. Thus for the next days, my team and I searched the ruins. Since we didn't have any fast transportation, we had to walk far. We found wreckage of buildings and people inside, and I am happy to say that we were able to get them out. Our first priority was to ensure the safety of citizens.  
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_It became quickly apparent that we would not be able to help everyone. While we were doing our best as a scout party, we didn't have the necessary tools to get everyone out of the debris. My team and I had many encounters where all we could do was watch. On many occasions, we were also too late. We worked for long hours, but we always had to report back to camp. This severely hindered our progress since we always had to be back before night, and without a vehicle, we were covering less and less distance since the previous days. Not only that but rations were getting low as more and more people flooded the camp. Medical supply was low and many were left untreated and forced to wait. Word that help was arriving was the only thing keeping the survivors hopeful.  
><em>

_It was a task without rewards. But I didn't want anything. Somehow, hearing people say thanks was enough for me to continue. As the days passed on, more and more champions joined in; first the rest of the Piltover champions, then came some of the Demacian champions, and finally some of the Noxus champions. Seeing both rival factions worked together brought warmth to my heart. Despite their rivalries and bloodshed, Demacian and Noxus champions were willing to set aside their differences and work towards a common goal._

_During New Years Eve, everyone took a long deserving break. Everyone was tired, even the champions. The first wave of medical supplies and rations had arrived, with more to come. There wasn't much of a celebration, no one really was in the mood. We expect to resume operations tomorrow, which is when I am writing this.  
><em>

~Diana


	23. Chapter 23 Final

January 7th, Year 2, Institute of War, Champion Dorms

_This is going to be my last entry._

_After so many entries, and recording so much in my diary, and even after losing this diary for several days, I feel like I'm finally beginning to understand myself a little better._

_I planned on writing for a lot longer period, but ultimately, this journal has served its purpose, and helped me find a new path. I no longer need to record anything, to become a better person. _

_I have to admit that I was extremely skeptical when this idea was suggested. I mean, why would someone even record their daily routine, wouldn't that be boring to read? And I'm pretty sure some of my entries were boring, I mean, even for champions, its not like we have an adventure everyday right?_

_Even so, I was surprised at my own entries. I'm reading some of these entries and I'm thinking; what was I doing at that time, if only I could go back and fix things. Even more so, I was beginning to view myself from another perspective, I was beginning to see some character flaws I never knew I had. _

_Reading back, I actually felt proud of my entries. Some of them were a lot more intense, while others were a lot relax. I've had some good times, and I've had some bad times, and I've had some pretty normal times.  
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_I don't even know where to start. This journal was a tremendous help. It might have looked like I was just rambling with irregularly updated entries, but I've read back all the way from the very first entry and it honestly feels like I'm reading a fairy tale. I have some difficulty believing that I actually lived through everything I read. Its almost like I'm reading a book!_

_The most important thing for me, was that this journal allowed me to have a place, write down my thoughts, my feelings, and it gave me a place to let it all out. I didn't have to keep all the negativity bottled up, and I feel a lot lighter after every entry. It helped me remember things I would have otherwise forgotten, especially all the details in life that I take for granted. I wrote down that I ate breakfast almost everyday, and I only realized now that I truly valued breakfast as more than just a meal, it was something I took for granted but not everyone has the luxury of eating a good breakfast to start off their day. _

_I read back, and I was able to gauge my character, who I was, and who I wanted to be. Before writing this journal, I only had one thought, to become the strongest and the influence of the moon, and if they would deny me, I would destroy them. Now I realized that was quite a barbaric goal, it made me seem worse than the arrogant Solari, to think I would try to spread a culture through solitude and loneliness. This journal taught me to be careful, to be cautious, but to be open to a certain extent. Everyone is different, I have to be willing to accept others, before they can accept me and my way of life. _

_This journal will always be one of my prized belongings. This journal holds a part of me, it holds my character, my thoughts, my emotions, my weaknesses and strengths. I'll be sure to keep it somewhere safe.  
><em>

~Diana

**Author's notes**

Hello readers and summoners,

This was my longest project up to date, and this one definitely gave me quite a bit of trouble. Looking back, I'm still pretty happy with the final product.

For those of you wondering, I do read the comments, and I take the criticism very seriously to the point where I would rewrite entire paragraphs due to one detail I missed. Although I haven't gotten to the point where I would rewrite the entire story, I do try to make adjustments as quick as possible on any details I've overlooked, or that I missed completely. So if you ever reread a chapter and find a new paragraph or two, well it's because I messed up and I'm trying to sneak in changes. I do try to maintain a certain level of accuracy, afterall, I don't want to make up the entire thing, that's too hard for me.

I do admit that my writing style needs to a lot of work, and I do hope to explore other types of writing, although I feel like I'm more suited for journal-entries. I'll have more work coming out (soon tm).

Thank you all readers who took the time to read my story! Your comments, feedback, and criticism are always appreciated. They really help me become a better writer, and I try to reflect my progress by producing higher quality chapters. So again, thank you all for reading!

And as always, big shoutout to Riot Games for creating League of Legends. This story was created with the purpose of entertainment, all rights and properties belong to Riot Games.

~Applet


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